The "In Rust we Trust" Build

[MrBeast]

A couple of days ago I scored this 90 suburban from a guy for 400.00, it has a TBI 350 that runs like a top, a TH700R4 and a NP208. The rear end was blown out, the back glass broken out, I had a matched set of axles, a 10 bolt and a 14FF sitting back at the shop out of a 77 that I scrapped about a year and a half ago.





Well I tore into it and ripped the blown 1/2 ton POS out of the rear, and stuffed a set of 3/4 ton leafs with overloads in with the 14 bolt.



Doing so actually lifted the truck close to 5 inches.



I had figured id swap in the axles, get some 16" wheels and a new set of tires and use the burban for doing pullouts at the beach all summer and make some money, then this winter tear everything down and salvage what was good into a new rig.

So much for my best laid plans though, because when I started to bleed the brakes the hard lines under the engine ruptured making one hell of a mess in my shop.

At this point I am sitting here with a burban that has a ton of rust in the roof and in the back, as well it had a blow out that destroyed the rear fender, and I am looking at the prospect of having to dump close to 300.00 into it just to make it streetable. With a rig I am planning on parting/scrapping anyways, dumping a bunch more money into it that I wouldn't get back just didn't seem like a good plan to me.

So whats a guy to do? BUY ANOTHER TRUCK!

I found this lifted half ton on Craigslist, the guy wanted 1500, sold it to me for 800 less the motor. It has a brand new lift in it, brand new shocks, and the frame is sound.





The front clip is pretty much garbage, the bed is fixable, the cab needs floors and the firewall is full of cancer, but surprisingly the roof and back of the cab are in pretty good shape.

So the plan is, I am going to part out and junk the suburban. The 14 and 10 bolt I have will find a home in the truck for the time being, I have a DRW dana 60 that will eventually wind up in the truck.

Even though the roof on the suburban is toast...



So what I plan do do is cut through the A and B Pillar at the lines, then at C I will cut the floor straight Across.



Once all the cuts are made I will cut the firewall and floor out of the cab and mate everything together installing new rockers and cab corners fixing 100% of the rust and structure issues.